Wire guiding means for cabling machines



July 16, 1963 J, v. O'GRADY ET AL 3,097,473

WIRE] GUIDING MEANS FOR CABLING MACHINES Filed June 26, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 HOWARD LAWRENCE UNG ERER BY ATTORNE July 16, 1963 J. v. OGRADY ET AL 3, 7

WIRE GUIDING MEANS FOR CABLING MACHINES Filed June 26, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 J'OSE H VINCENT O'GRADY HOWA RD LAWRENCE UNGERER- FIG. 2

y 1963 J. v. OGRADY ETAL 3,097,473

WIRE GUIDING MEANS FOR CABLING MACHINES Filed June 26, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 3

& \MI I 1 I INVENTOR :rosEP NCENT OGRA HOWARD WRENCE UNGER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,097,473 WIRE GUIDING MEANS FUR CABLING MACHINES Joseph V. OGrady, Locust, and Howard Lawrence Ungerer, Little Silver, N.J., assignors to Syncro Machine Company, Perth Amboy, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 26, 1962, Ser. No. 205,456 Claims. (Cl. 57-15) The present invention relates to wire guiding means for cabling machines and particularly to means whereby a plurality of cabling machines may be operated in series to produce a single cable having a total number of strands equal to the sum of the reels or bobbins provided in all of the cabling machines or stranders considered.

It is frequently the case that a large cable with a multiplicity of strands is to be produced. However, it is undesirable that a cabling or stranding machine be utilized only for cables of such relatively large number of strands and for this reason a plurality of cabling machines are commonly arranged in a series arrangement so that by using a forming die at the finishing end of each machine cables of predetermined numbers of strands can be produced, while by removing the forming dies from their position the strands may be individually led from one machine to the next so that all of the strands are formed into a single cable at the finishing end of the last of a plurality of machines.

Since it is necessary that each machine or machine section be provided with one or more drawing capstans and a takeup reel it is clear that the finishing end of a machine will be spaced a consider-able distance from the entering end of the following machine.

In the past it has been common practice to provide a tube extending between the two cabling machines or cabling machine sections, which tube carried a plurality of small tubes on its circumference through each one of which an individual strand was guided. Since, as indicated, the distance between the entering end of the last cabling machine section and the finishing end of the prior section is of the order of forty feet or more and since the guide tube is frequently eighteen inches or over in diameter, it will be seen that this guiding arrangement is of necessity heavy and cumbersome. Further this guide tube has to be rotated at high speed thus producing stresses of considerable magnitude.

For these reasons the guide tube has to be rugged and has to be well supported at spaced points along its length. All of the above results in the consumption of a considerable amount of time in converting from individual operation of the cabling machines to operation thereof in combination.

The present invention reduces the time necessary to convert from one of the forms of operation to the other and does this by providing individual guide plates or disks having wire guiding apertures which are arranged at spaced points between the finishing end of one machine and the entering end of the following machine, these disks being driven in synchronism from the first of the series of machines and being mountedso that they may be swung out of the way when the machines are to be used individually.

It is an object of the invention to provide wire guiding stands having strand guiding plates which may be readily positioned between cabling machines so that the machines may be utilized in a series arrangement to form a cable having the total number of strands which the individual machines are capable of handling.

-It is another object of the invention to provide such strand guiding plates which may be readily moved away from their operating positions so that each machine may 3,097,473 Patented July 16, 1963 ice be utilized to form a cable of the number of strands which the machine is designed to handle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such strand guiding plates having means for driving them in synchronism which makes it possible to convey fine strands without deflection thereof which is not possible when the strands themselves drive the guide plates.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the annexed drawings, in which,

FIGURES 1a and 1b taken together show the strand guiding mechanism of our invention positioned between a twenty-four reel or bob-bin stranding or cabling machine at the left and a similar twenty-four reel or bobbin stranding machine at the right. This drawing is a top plan view and shows also the drawing capstans, the die stand for the lefthand stranding machine, and the cable takeup reel on which cable formed on the lefthand machine is normally wound;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse cross-sectional View taken on the plane of the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1a showing particularly the means by which the guide plate fixed to the mast of the lefthand stranding machine serves to drive a shaft which in turn drives the remaining guide plates or disks; and

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional View taken on the plane of the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 showing particularly the mode of coupling the lefthand wire guiding plate to the mast of the left-hand stranding machine.

As indicated hereinabove, in the drawings there have been shown two stranding machines or stranding machine sections W-hich may be utilized individually or in a series arrangement. It will, however, be understood that a plurality of machines may be similarly arranged, the machines being individually of any size, i.e. bobbin capacity, desired. Further, although in the drawings fragmentary portions of a planetary type strander or oabling machine have been shown, other types of stranders such as tubular stranders may be supplied with similar strandguiding means or strands between the finishing end .of one section and the entering end of the following section.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown at 10 the finishing end of a planetary type stranding or cabling machine together with a die stand 11 mounted adjacent the finishing end and on which stand :a forming die, not shown, is mounted if the cable is to be formed at this point. Also, there are provided capstans 12 and 13 and a take-up reel 14 as well as a guide sheave 15 over which the cable passes as it moves from the forming die to the first capstan 12. In FIGURE lb is shown the entering end 16 of a second twenty-four bobbin stranding machine. This machine will be provided ,in the usual manner with a lay plate, not shown, having guide apertures therein for forty-eight strands and will be provided with a die stand, :capstans, and takeup reel similar to those discussed in connection with the first machine 10 so that the-finished cable will consist of forty-eight strands.

As will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, the planetary strander is provided with a mast 17, FIGURE 1a, to which a lay plate, not shown, is normally fixed and from which lay plate the strands are led to the forming die. When our novel strand guiding means or stands are to be utilized, the lay plate-is .removed and the first wire guiding disk 20 placed in position in alignment with the mast. A sleeve 21 isinserted within the mast 17 and held against rotation relative thereto by means of setscrews 22 and the disk then coupled to the sleeve by means of screws 19'.

Each disk 20 is supported in bearings 23 which bear 3 against the periphery of the disk as is clearly shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. The bearings 23 are mounted at the end of arm 24 which arm is pivotally mounted on a shaft 25 which is supported by a frame member 26.

As has been indicated and as is clearly seen in FIG- URE 1, a plurality of frame members 26 are provided at spaced points between the finishing end of strander and the entering end of strander 16, four being shown in the particular instance.

Shaft 25 is supported in suitable bearings at the upper ends of the frame members 26 and has fixed thereto adjacent each arm 24 a sprocket wheel 27. Fixed to each disk is a sprocket wheel 28, each wheel 28 thus cooperating with one of the sprocket wheels 27. Also provided on each arm 24 is an idler wheel 30 which is adjusta-bly mounted as indicated at 31 so that the chain 32 which passes over the idler wheel as well as over the sprocket wheels 27 and 28 may be adjustably tensioned.

Extending horizontally from each frame member or stand 26 is an arm 31 on which an upright rest 33 is adjustably fastened, for example, by means of the slots 34 and bolts 35. These rests underlie respective arms 24 and thus determine the positions of the arms when they are moved into the operating position as shown in full lines in FIGURE 2 (the inoperative position being indicated by fragmentary dotted outlines of the arms).

As indicated, the first guide disk 20 is driven by the mast of the left-hand cabling machine 10; the remaining disks are driven from this first disk through the medium of the chains 32, sprocket wheels 27 and 28, :and shaft 25.

Each guide disk 20 is provided with a plurality of guide openings 36, these openings being suitably bushed by means of the bushings 37 so that the individual strands are maintained in their positions relative to each other.

Each disk 20 is additionally provided with a central opening 38 which opening is bushed, for example, by means of the hard wood bushing 40. It will be understood that the bushing 40 is of the proper size to accommodate a core for the cable to be formed, which core may be an individual wire or, under some circumstances, may comprise a plurality of wires already formed into a cable which then forms the core for the larger cable.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the disk 23* is provided with twenty-four openings or apertures 36 and corresponding bushings 37, these apertures being spaced about a circumference all at the same radial distance from the center. It will of course be understood that the particular a-r rangement is merely illustrative since the stranding machine 10 may carry any desired number of bobbins and strands or, in fact, the total number of strands entering the disk 20 may result from the use of two stranding machine sections in tandem.

The twenty-four strands are thus guided in a parallel relationship with all strands parallel to the mast axes from the strander 10 to the strander 16. At the latter point these wires pass through the strander l6 and ultimately through the lay plate at the finishing end of that strander, being interspersed at the lay plate with the twenty-four additional wires coming from the bobbins of strander 16. These forty-eight wires pass through the lay plate in the particular arrangement desired and incorporated in that lay plate and thence through the closing die to the capstans and to the takeup reel.

It will be seen that by means of the wire guides described, it is only necessary, when converting from individual operation of the stranding or cabling machines to series operation of a plurality of machines or sections, to remove the lay plate from a preceding section, insert the sleeve 21 into mast 17, rotate the arms 24 about shaft until each arm rests on its rest 33 and couple the lefthand disk 20 to the sleeve 21 with screws 12. Thereafter the strands are carried through strander 16 and, together with strands from that machine, are fed through the lay plate and forming die to the drawing capstan of that strander Section. Thus when the sections are operated in synchronism a forty-eight strand cable is formed at the forming die.

As will be readily apparent, the conversion operation is readily performed and requires only the pivotal movernent of the arms and the fastening of the first guide plate disk to the mast in contrast to the old operation of placing a sleeve drawing tube across the die stand drawing capstan and takeup reel, arranging supports therefor and aligning the supports so that the tube can be fixed to the mast of the first machine and then securing the tube for rotation with the mast.

It will be apparent that, due to the mode of mounting the guide plates or disks, the disks may readily be changed to conform to any desired guiding pattern and may be arranged if desirable so that a formed cable passes through the center of the guide disks and is utilized as a core about which additional strands are laid.

Although the guide stand arrangement has been described as applied to a planetary strander or cabling machine, it will be understood that by minor modifications such guiding stand arrangements may be adapted for use with other stranders such for example as tubular stranders.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that we wish to be limited not by the foregoing description, but solely by the claims granted to us.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for guiding strands from a preceding cabling machine to an axially aligned succeeding cabling machine separated from the preceding machine by a die stand, drawing capstans and takeup reel, while maintaining said strands in a predetermined pattern, comprising, in combination, a plurality of pivotally mounted arms spaced apart between the cabling machines, a corresponding plurality of strand guiding plates, means rotatably mounting each plate on a corresponding arm, the centers of rotation of said plates being on the common axis of said machines when said arms are in one extreme of pivotal movement, means coupling one of said plates to the preceding cabling machine for drive by a rotary element thereof, and means for driving the remaining plates synchronously from said one plate.

2. Means for guiding strands from a preceding cabling machine to an axially aligned succeeding cabling machine separated from the preceding machine by a die stand, drawing capstans and takeup reel, while maintaining said strands in a predetermined pattern, comprising, in combination, a shaft, a plurality of arms pivotally mounted on said shaft, said arms being spaced apart between the cabling machines, a corresponding plurality of strand guiding plates, means rotatably mounting each plate on a corresponding arm, the centers of rotation of said plates being on the common axis of said machines when said arms are in one extreme of pivotal movement, means coupling one of said plates to the preceding cabling machine for drive by a rotary element thereof, and means for driving said shaft from said one plate and the remaining plates synchronously from said shaft.

3. Means for guiding strands from a preceding cabling machine to an axially aligned succeeding cabling machine while maintaining said strands in a predetermined pattern parallel to the common axis of the cabling machine comprising, in combination, a plurality of supports spaced apart along a line parallel to the common axis of the machines, a shaft rotatably mounted in said supports, a plurality of arms pivotally mounted on said shaft, one adjacent each said support, bearing means mounted at the extremity of each said arm, a strand guiding disk mounted in each said bearing means, means coupling one of said strand guiding disks to the preceding cabling machine for drive thereby, and means coupling each disk to the common shaft whereby said shaft is driven by said first disk and said shaft drives the remaining disks.

4. A strand guiding mechanism as claimed in claim 3,

wherein said bearing means comprises a plurality of bearings mounted about and bearing against the circumference of said disk.

5. Strand guiding means as claimed in claim 3 wherein said bearing means comprises a groove in the outer surface of said guiding disk and a plurality of anti-friction bearings mounted on said arm, the outer races of said bearings extending into said groove into contact with the base of said groove, said bearing mountings being spaced apart about the circumference of said groove.

6. Strand guiding means as claimed in claim 3 wherein a sprocket wheel is fixed to said shaft adjacent each said arm, and a sprocket wheel is fixed to each said disk, the corresponding shaft mounted and disk mounted sprocket Wheels being interconnected by means of a chain.

'7. Strand guiding means as claimed in claim 3 wherein each said strand guiding disk has a plurality of apertures therein through which the strands are individually guided.

8. Strand guiding means as claimed in claim 7 wherein each strand guiding disk has a central aperture therethrough, said central aperture serving to guide a core.

9. Strand guiding means as claimed in claim 7 wherein said apertures have bushings therein, said bushings being of a size adapted to guide the strands being cabled.

10. Means for guiding strands from a preceding cabling machine to an axially aligned succeeding cabling machine separated from the preceding machine by a die stand, drawing capstans and takeup reel, while maintaining said strands in a predetermined pattern comprising, in combination, a plurality of supports spaced apart along a line parallel to the common axis of the cabling machine, a shaft journalled in said supports, a plurality of arms pivotally mounted on said shaft at spaced intervals thereon, a sprocket Wheel fixed to said shaft adjacent each said arm, a strand guiding disk rotatably mounted on each arm at the end thereof remote from said shaft, said guiding disks being positionable with their centers on the common axis of the cabling machine when said arms are pivoted to one extreme position, said guiding disk having apertures therein through which said strands are guided, said apertures being individually provided with bushings of a size to accommodate an individual strand, an annular sprocket wheel fixed to each said guiding disk, means coupling said guiding disk mounted on the arm adjacent the preceding machine to a rotary element of that machine, and means comprising chains extending from the guiding disk sprockets to the shaft sprockets for driving said shaft from said one disk and the remaining disks from said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,896,084 Hill Feb. 7, 1933 2,098,922 McKnight Nov. 9, 1937 2,104,121 Gleason Jan. 4, 1938 r 2,156,652 Harris May 2, 1939 

1. MEANS FOR GUIDING STRANDS FROM A PRECEDING CABLING MACHINE TO AN AXIALLY ALIGNED SUCCEEDING CABLING MACHINE SEPARATED FROM THE PRECEDING MACHINE BY A DIE STAND DRAWING CAPSTANS AND TAKEUP REEL, WHILE MAINTAINING SAID STRANDS IN A PREDETERMINED PATTERN, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PLURALITY OF PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ARMS SPACED APART BETWEEN THE CABLING MACHINES, A CORRESPONDING PLURALITY OF STRAND GUIDING PLATES, MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTING EACH PLATE ON A CORRESPONDING ARM, THE CENTERS OF ROTATION OF SAID PLATES BEING ON THE COMMON ASIS OF SAID MACHINES WHEN SAID ARMS ARE IN ONE EXTREME OF PIVOTAL MOVEMENT, MEANS COUPLING ONE OF SAID PLATES TO THE PRECEDING CABLING MACHINE FOR DRIVE BY A ROTARY ELEMENT THEREOF, AND MEANS FOR DRIVING THE REMAINING PLATES SYNCHRONOUSLY FROM SAID ONE PLATE. 